


Quali-tea time

by StarlitShadowHuntress



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Keith is done with the pun, Keith would like to avoid that as much as he can, Shiro had an emo phase, Shiro makes bad puns, other characters mentioned in passing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 15:26:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9447473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarlitShadowHuntress/pseuds/StarlitShadowHuntress
Summary: "Keith, if I don't make it out of this alive, I want you to lead Voltron.""Shiro, chill."Galaxies away from home, Shiro's glad he has somebody who can get him through tough times. Keith just wishes that Shiro would take a standup comedy class when they get back to Earth.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The idea behind this fic was taken from http://nlghtowl.tumblr.com/post/156232451808/i-want-the-i-want-you-to-become-the-leader-of  
> Be sure to pop by and thank them if you liked this fic (and even if you didn’t)!

“Keith, if I don’t make it out of this alive, I want you to lead Voltron.”

Keith hesitated, swallowing. When he finally responded, the crack in his voice was clear. “Shiro, I...”

“Don’t tell me that I’m gonna make it out of this unscathed, or that I’m going to be fine.” Shiro’s eyes met his own, and they stayed locked. “I don’t want to hear from you that this is anything less than a precaution. This is what I want, and if it ends up being my dying wish, so be it.”

“I don’t understand-”

“I trust you more than anybody else, Keith. Of course it has to be you.”

“First off, Black would never respond to me.”

“She can learn.”

“Yeah, well, Red’s already picked my sorry butt up from bad decisions countless times. I can’t just leave her like that.”

“Coran could pilot.”

Keith shook his head vehemently. “In Red? Oh no, not my baby. I just shined her up yesterday. She’s more reflective than Lance’s face after his morning routine, and it will only be ruined over my dead body.”

“Keith, we weren’t talking about your dead body, we were talking about mine.”

“Shiro, this is a load of bull.”

“Was that supposed to be a jab at his cow just then?” He tried for a weak chuckle, before it became more of a grimace. “I never thought I’d live to see the day you made such a terrible joke. I’m over the moon.”

“We’re all over the moon, Shiro, because we’re in a castle ship galaxies away from our solar system! That’s not important!”

“Of course it is.” A smile, this time. “I got to hear you make a pun before I-”

“Shiro!” Keith gripped Shiro’s shoulders. “For the love of quiznak! It’s just a cup!”

Shiro’s voice changed from dramatically subdued to panicked and squeaky as he gestured from the shattered remnants on the floor to himself. “It wasn’t just any cup, Keith, it was Allura’s favourite mug!” How Shiro knew something like that, Keith had no idea. In all honesty, he’d rather not know. “How was I supposed to know that Pidge was going to get the castle speakers to blast their heavy metal playlist while I was thirsty? I didn’t mean to drop it on the floor, it- it just happened, okay?”

“Well, of course you didn’t mean to break it! She’ll understand!”

“She's going to kill me!” He moved to lay down on the floor, a small distance from the smashed mess. “This is the end of Shirogane Takashi, I can hear the eulogies now.”

“Don't be silly! Of course she won’t kill you! She needs you to lead Voltron!”

“Well, she won't need me when she realizes I have you as my second!”

“Second what? Second last option, because your first and only other one is to resign yourself to death by an angry space princess? I think the fate of the universe is more important than some little cup with a hole in the bottom of it!”

“That hole can hold cookies so that you don’t need to wash an extra plate! It’s the most genius invention since sporks, Keith! Hunk agrees with me!”

“Just eat the cookie over a sink, then, if you don’t feel like washing the extra plate!”

Shiro’s hands flew over his mouth, shock and betrayal clearly written on it. “Eating cookies over a sink? How could you say such a thing? Have you never known human compassion?”

“I’d sooner stick a fork through my oreos than have to wash a plate for a serving size of three cookies.”

Shiro’s hands moved to clutch at his chest. “Who eats just the serving size when there’s an entire box just waiting on a table to be eaten?”

“Somebody with self control, Shiro, who isn’t going to get diabetes while spending time in space. Remember? They had to pack an actual crate in the cargo stash full of astronaut ice cream because  _ somebody _ couldn’t just eat the freeze dried pudding they were dealt.”

“That stuff has never gone into space before on an actual mission, Keith! I made history by insisting it be there should I ever need to satisfy my sweet tooth.” Shiro’s eyes sparkled. “At least now I can die happy, knowing that I’ve been able to change part of space history.” Keith squinted. Were those tears threatening to spill?

Oh brother. “Drama Emperor Shiro”, as it was aptly named, was a phase Keith had shared some very personal experiences with. On Keith's scale of annoyance from one to ten, one being, "Shiro needed to find some chill" and ten being "Shiro's emo phase", it ranked a solid seven and a half. It had been funny a few years ago, but now? His eyes rolled back as he crossed his arms. “Seriously, just knock on the door to her room, and grovel there. Don’t try to drag me there with you, I’m not dealing with your smashed ceramic issue. She won't kill you. I mean, she definitely could, but she won't! She needs you to pilot Black! That lion isn't going to fly itself, or tell us what to do, without you there in the seat!”

Shiro straightened. “I guess you’re right, for the time being. I really do still mean it though, when something happens to me, the rest of the team will need to respond to you.”

“That’s a lot of responsibility to put on me, you know. Having this much pressure on you sucks, if this is how you feel all the time.”

Keith heard a sigh. “It does, I know; and I’m sorry that you had to be in this kind of situation in the first place. Even now, we’re stretched pretty thin.”

“Talk to the princess before letting me know just how thin.”

“I will, in a second.” He reached down and gently started to brush the shards into a pile. “Will you at least help me...” Shiro’s face contorted as he stood, holding up part of the broken mug and making direct eye contact with Keith, double chin coming out in all of its glory.

“Shiro,” Keith warned. He knew that face. He hoped this wasn’t going in the direction he thought it was going in, please, for the love of anything holy, don’t let Shiro-

“ _ Handle _ this situation and  _ sweep _ it under the rug?”

“Damn it to quiznak, Shiro.”

“I’m just  _ milking _ the situation for all it’s worth. Cuptastrophes like this require special  _ treat _ ment.”

Keith was pretty sure his groan could be heard all the way from Earth.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact, that dehydrated ice cream that gets sold at any practically any aerospace facility’s gift shop? It never went with astronauts on old space missions, they had chocolate pudding instead.  
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
